Board to board electrical connector

ABSTRACT

In a connector assembly for mounting on printed circuit boards and consisting of a receptacle connector (10) and a plug connector (20), the plug-side board mount (26) has a contact tab (26c), and the receptacle-side board mount (16) has a spring arm contact section (16c) that engages the contact tab (26c) of the plug-side board mount (26) when the connectors are mated. The spring arm contact section (16c) is disposed within a vertical through-cavity (12b) of the receptacle connector (10). When the connectors are mated, the spring arm contact section (16c) located in the through-cavity (12b) of the receptacle connector fits into the through-cavity (22b) of the plug connector where it engages with the contact tab (26c).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electrical connectors, specifically toelectrical connectors that are mounted on printed circuit boards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electrical connectors consisting of two halves mounted on nearlyparallel printed circuit boards to be connected together, are known inthe art. Following the general trend toward the reduction of electricaldevices in size, such connectors intended for the mounting on printedcircuit boards are also becoming smaller resulting in the necessity toincrease strength of the mechanical connection of such connectors toboards. For this purpose, the board mounted connectors are secured tothe boards by solder mounts set in side walls of the housing, forexample, and surface mounted to the board surface such as in connectorsaccording to Japanese Patent Disclosure Hei 7 (1995)-240246. Anothermethod of securing the solder mounts to the connector consists in theembedding of grounding contacts in side walls of the housing such as inconnectors according to Japanese Patent Disclosure Hei 7 (1995)-94241.

In order to enhance the freedom of designers of such small-sizeconnectors intended for the mounting on board surface, it is desirableto provide an electrical connection between the solder mount of the plugconnector and that of the receptacle connector for the purposes ofgrounding. That is, it is desirable to provide a possibility to groundconnectors through solder mounts of either plug or receptacleconnectors.

It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,405 for a matable connector pair tohave housings with board mounts having contact sections disposed incavities for grounding continuity, where one contact of a mating pairhas a tab and the other has a spring arm contact section within itscavity to mate with the tab, with the mating tab adjacent a housingsidewall and the spring arm deflectable within its housing by the matingtab.

The purpose of this invention is to offer a board surface mountedconnector allowing for the implementation of grounding either from theplug connector side or from the receptacle connector side by providingelectrical connection between both solder mounts without compromisingthe small size of the connector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The electrical connector according to this invention consists of twomatching halves with the board mounts of a first half of the connectorhaving contact tabs and the board mounts of the second half havingspring arm contact sections that produce a contact with the contact tabsof the first half when the connector halves are joined together, and inone aspect it is characterized by the spring arm contact sections beingarranged in such a manner that they can deflect inside through-cavitiesmade in the vertical direction inside the housings of the matching halfeach of connector.

It is desirable to form support surfaces in open spaces provided for thespring arm contact sections.

It is also desirable to provide the spring arm contact sections with aguiding surface that would initiate deflection thereof to the contactingposition upon mating of the complementary connectors.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of examplewith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 to 3 are plan, front and side views of the receptacle assemblyof an embodiment of the electrical connector according to thisinvention.

FIG. 4 is a cross section of said receptacle assembly through lines 4--4in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5 to 7 are plan, front and side views of the plug assembly of anembodiment of the electrical connector according to this invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross section of said plug assembly through lines 8--8 inFIG. 6.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are partial oblique views of the receptacle and plugassemblies, respectively.

FIG. 11 is an oblique view of the solder mount having a spring armcontact section intended for the receptacle assembly.

FIG. 12 is an oblique view of the solder mount having a contact tabintended for the plug assembly.

FIGS. 13 and 14 are enlarged views of the spring arm contact section andcontact tab before and after they engage each other when receptacleassembly and plug assembly are mated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The specific configuration of a solder mount of the receptacle connectorcan be implemented as a bridge section, that fits in a groove made inthe housing and supports the entire mount body, having mounting wingsintended for soldering formed at the both ends of the bridge section, aspring arm contact section of U-shaped cross section formed at themiddle of the bridge section, and a pair of press-in tongues formedbetween said spring arm contact section and the mounting wings. Aspecific configuration of the mount of the plug connector can beimplemented as a bridge section, that fits in a groove made in thehousing and supports the entire mount body, having mounting wingsintended for soldering formed at the both ends of the bridge section, acontact tab of U-shaped cross section formed at the middle of the bridgesection, and a pair of press-in tongues formed between the contact taband the mounting wings.

In this electrical connector, the solder mount of the first half of theconnector has contact tabs while the solder mount of the second half ofthe connector has spring arm contact sections that engage the contacttabs when the halves are joined together. Due to the fact that saidspring arm contact sections fit into and can deflect inside verticalthrough-cavities made in the housing of the second half of theconnector, the overall dimensions of the connector can be reduced, andsince the grounding connection can be made through a solder mount ofeither the plug or the receptacle connector, the connectors can bedesigned with fewer limitations.

The inclined surface formed in the vertical through-cavity supports thespring arm contact section preventing plastic deformation. Due to thefact that the contact tab has a chamfered guiding surface that initiatesdeflection of the spring arm contact section at the time of joining theconnectors to the contacting position, the transition of the contact taband the spring arm contact section to the mutually connected state takesplace very smoothly.

As it can be seen from FIGS. 1 through 4, a plurality of contacts 14 arearranged in the housing 10 of the receptacle connector assembly 10(below, simply "receptacle assembly"), and two solder mounts 16,16 aresecured in the retaining grooves 12a,12a formed in both ends of thehousing 12.

FIG. 9 represents an enlarged view of the solder mount retaining groove12a and the through-cavity 12b in which the solder mount 16 is secured,formed in the end of the housing 12 of the receptacle assembly 10. Thesolder mount 16 is inserted and secured in the solder mount retaininggroove 12a and the through-cavity 12b as it will be explained in moredetail below.

As it can be seen from FIGS. 5 through 8, a plurality of contacts 24 arearranged in the housing 22 of the plug connector assembly 20 (below,simply "plug assembly"), and two solder mounts 26,26 are secured in theretaining grooves 22a,22a formed in both ends of the housing 22.

FIG. 10 represents an enlarged view of the solder mount retaining groove22a and the through-cavity 22b in which the solder mount 16 is secured,formed in the end of the housing 22 of the plug assembly 20. The soldermount 26 is inserted and secured in the solder mount retaining groove22a and the through-cavity 22b as it will be explained in more detailbelow.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view depicting a solder mount 16 of thereceptacle connector and FIG. 12 is an enlarged view depicting a soldermount 26 of the plug connector. FIGS. 13 and 14 represent an enlargedview of mutual position of the solder mount 16 of the receptacleconnector and the solder mount 26 of the plug connector when thereceptacle assembly 10 and plug assembly 20 are joined together.

As it can be seen from FIG. 11, the receptacle-side solder mount 16consists of a bridge 16a that fits in the groove 12a of the housing 12,mounting wings 16b, 16b provided for soldering to the board at both endsof the bridge, a spring arm contact section 16c of U-shaped crosssection formed at the middle of bridge 16a, and a pair of press-intongues 16d,16d formed between said spring arm contact section 16c andmounting wings 16b,16b. The plug-side solder mount 26 consists of abridge 26a that fits in the groove 22a of the housing 22, mounting wings26b,26b provided for soldering to the board at both ends of the bridge,a contact tab 26c of U-shaped cross section formed at the middle ofbridge 26a, and a pair of press-in tongues 26d,26d formed betweencontact tab 26c and mounting wings 26b,26b.

The press-in tongues 16d,16d of the receptacle-side solder mount 16shown in FIG. 11 are inserted and pressed in the groove 12a of thehousing 12 shown in FIG. 9; at that time, the spring arm contact section16c fits in through-cavity 12b of housing 12 where it can be deflected.

The press-in tongues 26d,26d of the plug-side solder mount 26 shown inFIG. 12 are inserted and pressed in the groove 22a of the housing 22shown in FIG. 10; at that time, contact tab 26c fits in through-cavity22b of the housing 22.

When the housings 12 and 22 are joined together as shown in FIG. 13, thespring arm contact section 16c of the receptacle-side solder mount 16comes in contact with the contact tab 26c of the plug-side solder mount26 and it is deflected inside as shown in FIG. 14; when the state offull contact with the contact tab 26c of the plug-side solder mount 26is achieved, it is inserted in through-cavity 22b of the housing 22 ofthe plug-side assembly. Since the spring arm contact section 16c of thereceptacle-side solder mount 16 is located inside through-cavity 12b ofreceptacle-side housing 12 (after connector mating is completed, it islocated also inside the through-cavity 22b of the housing 22 of theplug-side assembly), the overall height of the connector can be madesmaller. Due to the fact that both solder mounts 16 and 26 are incontact with each other, the grounding connection to the circuit boardcan be made by the solder mount of either plug-side or receptacle-sideconnector, thus providing for a greater freedom in the designingprocess.

In addition, the purpose of the inclined surface 12c formed inthrough-cavity 12b, against which the spring arm contact section 16cbears, is to support section 16c and prevent plastic deformation thereofresulting from repetitive connections and disconnections of theconnector. Due to the fact that the spring arm contact section 16c has aguiding surface 26c' that directs the contact tab 26c at the time ofjoining the connector halves to the contacting position, the transitionof the spring arm contact section 16c and the contact tab 26c to themutually connected state takes place very smoothly.

The embodiment explained above is only one example of the ideas thatform the basis of the design of the electrical connector according tothis invention. For example, the receptacle-side solder mount 16c andthe plug-side solder mount 26c can be interchanged with each other.Configurations of connector housing, solder mounts, etc. also can bemodified if such modifications do not affect the substance of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrical connector assembly, whose purposeis to join two nearly parallel printed circuit boards, consisting of twocomplementary connector halves that are secured to opposing surfaces ofsaid printed circuit boards by board mounts secured within cavities ofhousings of said connector halves, said board mounts of one saidconnector half have contact tabs and said board mounts of the other saidconnector half have spring arm contact sections that engage with saidcontact tabs of said one half when said connector halves are mated,characterized in that:said cavities have portions that extend throughthe housings, with said tabs and said spring arm contact sectionsdisposed in respective said through cavity portions, and said spring armcontact sections are arranged in such a manner that they can deflectinside said through cavities inside said housings, and wherein each saidthrough cavity portion containing a said spring arm contact sectionincludes a support surface engageable therewith during connector matingto prevent plastic deformation of said spring arm contact section. 2.The connector assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein each said springarm contact section includes an angled guiding surface at its leadingend engageable with a said contact tab to initiate deflection thereof.3. The connector assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein a leading endof each said spring arm contact section enters said through cavityportion of said housing of said one connector to engage said contact tabtherein and be deflected therein.
 4. An electrical connector assemblyfor joining two nearly parallel printed circuit boards, the connectorassembly comprising:two complementary connector halves that aresecurable to opposing surfaces of one of the printed circuit boards,each half comprisinga mating face; an opposing board mounting face; acavity extending from the mating face to mounting face; a board mountsecured within the cavity, wherein the board mount of one said connectorhalf includes a contact tab disposed in the cavity and the board mountof the other said connector half includes a spring arm contact sectiondisposed in the cavity, and the spring arm contact section engages withthe contact tab and deflects through both cavities when said connectorhalves are mated.